Raiders. Griffin Camby and Gordon are good. The Raiders dont have over half the starters that are good, they have too many holes. Clippers will have an above 500 season in 2 or 3 years but I'm not sure about Al Davis.

Pirates haven't been decent in YEARS. Clips at least made the second round a couple of years ago, and da Raiduhs made the Super Bowl like 7 years ago. Last time the Bucs were in the playoffs, they had a young skinny outfielder named Barry Bonds. They just don't get as much negative publicity because they are in a relatively small market where football reigns supreme.

You can't really compare NBA or NFL teams to MLB, in Baseball its much harder to have success without spending hundreds of millions of dollars. In the NBA there are 16 team that make the playoffs and only 14 that don't, its kinda pathetic if a team isn't in the playoffs at least every 3 years or so (that's right I'm talking about Bobcats). In the NFL, there are 4 teams in each division and 2 wild card spots, so teams should be in the playoffs at least every 5 years or so (yes that means you Bills). While in Baseball there are only 1 playoff spot per division (which vary on size) and only 1 wild card spot for each league. In reality a MLB team that doesn't break the bank annually (Red Sox, Dodgers, Yankees, and Mets), will likely only be able to put together a legitimate run at a championship every 8-10 years or so. Anyone agree?

I'm going to have to go with the Clippers. The Raiders haven't been great recently, but the Clippers have historically been bad. The problem that has been plaguing the Clippers is Donald Sterling not opening his wallet. While the Clippers signed Baron Davis this past year, and they have spent some money on players the are countless stories about how they can't provide their players with the support they need around them. For years Brand had to sit on a team with no help, and while they signed Davis, that was just one piece of the puzzle, and you can't blame Brand for moving to a team that is continually trying to improve (76ers). Picking up Camby didn't make much sense, since they had Kamen, and Camby was going down (just look at how well the Nuggets did with Nene at the helm). The Raiders may have made some bad signings lately (specifically DeAngelo Hall and Javon Walker), they've had great success in the past.

Now if you really want to compare teams consider the Bengals v. the Clippers, now that's a battle of owners who refuse to spend money.

Actually, there has always been teams that have had success in MLB with a low payroll.

Florida Marlins and Oakland A's are prime examples of the moneyball factor in which they reload stars on contract years for top prospects that just seems to pan out in the next 2 years, keeping the team competitive for 3~4years.

The direction that the Pirates and Baltimore have been taken for a whole decade puts them on par as some messed out franchises.

wwwjocky said, "The problem that has been plaguing the Clippers is Donald Sterling not opening his wallet."

It goes way beyond money. The Clippers have a long history of making bad decisions and management is NOT held accountable for those horrible choices.

1. Elgin Baylor was the GM for more than 20 years and made one idiotic decision after another [i.e. drafting M. O. number one]. If Baylor was accountable for his actions, he would have been fired after his 5th or 6th year. If you look back at all of the stupid moves he made, you would find it hard to comprehend.

2. Mike Dunleavy is both coach and GM and he made a series of horrible decisions since he's been there. And guess what, he wasn't and isn't being held accountable. He's like the second coming of Elgin Baylor.

the clippers are worst becuz the 2 main positions are occupied by the same idiot. Mike dunleavy is not only the coach but hes the gm. which means 2 me that if he does a bad job coaching he doesnt have to fire himself. the team owner is an even bigger idiot for handing the dunleavy those responsibilities